Happy Shots

Botox injections may provide a sustained lift in mood for people in treatment for depression. Researchers selected volunteers who were taking antidepressant medication and who had noticeable frown lines but reported being unconcerned about them. Among those who received five Botox injections in the forehead in one session, a third of them achieved full remission of their depression within four months, compared with 13 percent of a group given placebo injections, according to M. Axel Wollmer, a psychiatrist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, and his colleagues. Temporarily disabling facial muscles involved in expressing negative emotions seems to diminish internal sensation of them, the researchers conclude.